Category: Putting tips

 

 

 

Introduction

I’m sure you have probably been in the situation that I’m going to describe in a second, but first let me just refresh your memory about how you have gotten yourself in this position.

When you first started playing golf you probably spent most of your time working on your golf swing mechanics. Hitting your driver straight, hitting your irons the right distance and direction and finally working on your short game (chipping) in order to get your ball close to the hole.

But chances are you have spent the least amount of your practice time on your putting. So back to the situation I mentioned earlier. There you are on the tee of say a par four and you hit your drive right down the middle, next you hit you second or what is called your approach shot on to the green, say twenty feet from the hole.

You walk up to the green and your thinking great I have a putt to make a birdie. You approach your ball and take your putting stance and you putt your ball.

All of a sudden much to your dismay your putt goes far right, away from the hole leaving you with a lengthy putt coming back, next thing you know you miss that one and you tap in for a five.

How demoralizing is that going to the next tee. What happened was you did not read the green properly. So here I’m going to teach you how to read greens like a pro.

Reading Greens

Reading greens is actually an art and the sooner you can master the art of reading greens the sooner you will make fewer putts in a round of golf and therefore lower your scores and your handicap. A lot of factors go in to learning how to read greens properly and some of these are:

• The type of grass you are putting on
• The direction of the grain of the grass
• Whether the grass is wet or not

Any or all of these conditions should be taken into consideration when determining where you will have to putt your ball in order to get your ball in or at least very close to the hole.

For instance if you are putting on a green that is damp or a little wet you may read your putt to break so much but the wetter grass will make your putt slower which in turn will make your putt break more than you thought, whereas a dry faster green will possibly not break as much and slide past the hole.

 

Develop a Green Reading Routine

Let me start with a major part of developing a proper green reading routine is to spend at least ten minutes on the practice green before you even get on the golf course.

Just about all golf course mimic their practice green to the exact cut and speed of the actual greens on the golf course. This will help dramatically when out on the golf course.

Once on the golf course and you get to the green your subconscious will take over and you will determine what speed you will have to hit the ball and what direction you will have to start the ball rolling.

Obviously if the ball goes in the hole you have read the speed and break properly. if,you missed the putt either left or right you have miss read the green. if, the ball did not reach the hole then you did not hit it hard enough.

This is one of the biggest putting mistakes because if the ball does not reach the hole it will never go in the hole. A good tip here is to always try to hit your putt a foot farther than the hole.

Another great tip for your green reading routine is this:

When you do hit your approach shot on the green, as you drive your cart or if you are walking pay close attention to the slope of the fairway in correlation with the slope of the green. This will give you an initial pre reading of the green.

If I’m driving in a golf cart I will drive up to the green and take my putter out and walk back ten or twenty yards back down the fairway and have another look.

Then walk up to the green and look at your putt from all sides. This should tell you if the putt is a downhill or an uphill putt and possibly which way it will break. The best way to read the break of the putt is ultimately behind your ball.

Your Final Decision

Once you have gone through your green reading routine and have come up with the direction and speed of your putt, do not change your mind.

When,you approach your putt and are ready to take your putt you will most likely start second guessing yourself about your decision, please try to resist this temptation at all costs. Always go with your first instinct, most of the time it will be right.

Do Not Get Angry

Remember one thing, you are not going to make every putt, even some of the most perfectly struck putt does not always go in. Many things can prevent a great putt from going in.

For instance a gust of wind could affect your putt, an improperly repaired ball mark could knock it off-line a little, even a small unseen pebble could affect it.

You’ve probably seen a putt that goes all the way around the hole and not go in. These are just part of this wonderful game of golf. Do not get angry, all this will do is carry over to the next hole which could be disastrous. Nothing good can come out of getting mad. It’s only a game.

In Leaving

Remember your focus should always avoid the dreaded three putts. if,you can avoid three putts you will knock a lot of strokes off your final score. if,you can play an eighteen hole round of golf with thirty-six putts or fewer you should consider this a very successful round of golf.

I like to look at this game as what I call bogie golf. Most golf courses are a par seventy or seventy-two, so if you bogie every hole you’re shooting a ninety or better and with practice the pars and birdies will come, lowering your score even more.

I hope you have found this article to be informative and helpful, if so please feel free to leave a comment below, and as always if you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will get back to you as so as possible.

Good Golf To You

Robert

Introduction

In my past articles here i have touched on a lot of great golf swing tips from driving the ball off the tee to hitting your fairway woods and long irons to the green or just to advance your ball down the fairway getting closer to the hole, to hitting your short irons from the fairway onto the green.

I have also given great tips on hitting your ball out of the sand trap onto the green, and also chipping the ball from around the green to get close to the hole.

Today i wanted to take some time to help you with some of my best golf putting tips. A lot of golfers, especially novice or beginner golfers seem to think that putting is just a boring part of playing an eighteen hole round of golf.

They think standing on the tee box and smashing the ball down the middle of the fairway is the most exciting golf shot ever. Whilst this a great and exciting accomplishment, little do they know that what comes after those shots is usually what really makes or breaks a great round of golf

Putting

Unlike the novice or beginner golfer many of the most experienced and skilled golfers that play the game actually realize that more strokes are lost or gained in an eighteen hole round of golf on the putting green.

They will spend countless hours on the practice green trying to perfect their putting stroke and techniques whereas the novice golfer will show up at the golf course go do the driving range and smash a bunch of golf balls with different clubs and go to the practice green and just spend a couple of minutes putting a few golf balls in the hole from short distances and then head to the first tee.

Little do they know that the exact opposite holds true, you should be spending more time on the practice green than on the driving range. Hence, the well-known term in golf circles ( you drive for show but you putt for dough ) I bet you that most golfers do not realize that over sixty per cent of their golf shots over the course of an eighteen hole round of golf are made from the putting surface.

Get the Feel for Putting

A major part of your putting stroke is actually all about feel, and by that i mean to get the right feel for putting you will need to block out a lot of outside distractions we have in our everyday lives. Once you get to any golf course you should immediately consider the golf course your own private sanctuary.

One way you can accomplish “feel for putting” is to go to the golf practice putting green and without even using a golf ball yet just grip your putter, take your stance and take a few practice putting strokes with your eyes closed, that’s right playing golf with your eyes closed.

Now using a golf ball set up around ten feet from a hole that is a fairly straight putt and take your stance, grip your putter making sure you are aligned with the hole and envision your ball going into the hole now shut your eyes again and make your putting stroke striking the ball towards the hole.

It seems like when a golfer finally gets on the green and it is their turn to putt, they set up and stand over their putt and then all of a sudden their arms tighten up, they grip their putter tighter and all of a sudden they have lost all feel for their putt.

The best way to eliminate this problem is to constantly practice the eyes closed drill and you will be amazed how much more relaxed and comfortable you will feel standing over your real putts on the course.

 

More Golf Putting Tips

Just like the old drive for show putt for dough adage, another saying is ” practice makes perfect ” and in the case of putting this certainly holds true. And one of the great things about putting is that you can practice your putting stroke just about anywhere:

• on the golf course
• at the practice green
• on an artificial turf mat
• on you’re living room floor
• in your office

Practicing like this will give you different roles of the ball on each different surface but your main golf here is installing muscle memory in terms of your actual putting stroke. This will help your putting tremendously when it comes to consistency with your stroke.

If you ever pay attention to any really great putters you will notice that during their entire putty stroke their heads hardly move at all, this is also important in creating a consistent putting stroke.

The Cure:

Find a clear wall whether at home, office, anywhere, now approach the wall and take your putting stance and just touch your forehead against the wall and start taking some practice strokes, this will ingrain in your brain the feeling of your head staying still when you get on the golf course.

You can also look down to your putter while you are taking these practice strokes and be sure your is putting is going back and forth along the wall seeing that your putter is moving in a straight line.

Practice Putting Distance

One of the most dreaded terms in the world of golf is the dreaded three putt, which occurs when once you get on the green it takes you another three shots to get the ball in the hole. Rarely do you see a pro or even a seasoned golfer three putt.

Do you know why? Because they practice long distance putts on the practice green. Not always will your shot to the green land close to the hole, sometimes you could be forty or fifty feet away, the key here is even if you don’t get that putt in the hole you at least want to have a short second putt to finish the hole.

One way i do this is by playing a game i call golf boccie ball, the object is to take five or so white golf balls and one colored golf ball. Place the colored ball somewhere on the green, now take the white golf balls and place them different lengths from the colored ball and try to putt them as close to the colored ball as you can, this drill will also help you out in reading different breaks and undulations in the green.

The Putter Itself

I just wanted to take a little time here to talk a little about the actual club

( the putter ) that you will be using for this shot once you get to the green. There are many makes and models of putters, some which are:

• The blade putter
• The mallet putter
• The metal faced putter
• The insert faced putter
• The groove faced putter
• The center shafted putter

Most seasoned or pro golfers all have their favorite putter and will use no other, even when they would upgrade their clubs they will still keep their putter. Once a player find their go to putter they rarely change it unless they start having putting problems and feel they need a change.

I, myself have had my insert faced blade putter for almost twenty years now. If you are a novice or beginner golfer and have yet to find that go to putter i would suggest you go to any golf club shop and they usually have a little putting area with all different styles of putters.

Try them all until you find one that really feels comfortable to you. I would not however buy it on the spot. Get the make and model and do some research and you can more than likely get a better deal online or elsewhere.

 

So in Closing

I hope you have noticed throughout this article and all the tips and techniques their is one constant. What is it? Practice, practice,practice. In order to create the most consistent and dependable putting stroke in order to shave lots of strokes off your score you need to practice.

I hope you find all the information in this article very useful in making your quest for the best golf game possible.

If you have found it helpful please leave a comment below or if you have any questions please feel free to leave them as well, and i will get back to you as soon as possible.

To Good Golf

Robert